Rain in Santa Barbara is not a pleasant thing. We don’t expect rain here – a lot of us chose this school for that very reason. That’s probably why the inaugural precipitation makes us feel so cheated.

I looked outside my window Tuesday morning in complete denial. To be sure, I stepped outside and I was greeted with raindrops – it was true.

I have a theory that rain brings chaos, especially in those places that are not used to seeing it. It’s an environmental catharsis that releases its tension and frustration upon us, the lowly earth dwellers. I felt the frustration this morning when my roommate told me to check out the balcony. We had been toilet-papered. Now, I thought all that nonsense ended when I was in the 7th grade, but apparently not. The best part is that cleaning up toilet paper, after a good night’s rain, is a circle of hell Dante forgot to mention.

The rain also interrupted all of our normal transportation plans. Do we bike and get that water streak down our backs? Do we commit an I.V. no-no and drive? Do we get over our laziness and walk? It really is a difficult problem, one that I never had to face last year when I lived in the dorms. So freshmen, take advantage of this opportunity. Rub it in everyone else’s face. Unless of course you live in F.T.., which means you should just not go to class when it rains. Don’t worry, it won’t affect your grades that much – it doesn’t rain here enough.

One of my roommates and I decided to carpool. My other two roommates decided to bike it and turned their noses at us for unnecessarily polluting our environment. We told them to shove it and went on our way.

The problem with driving in the rain is that no one knows how to do it. You would think that it wouldn’t make it that much more difficult, but people drive recklessly when the roads are slick and their visibility is low. On El Colegio Road, I saw the car in front of me get sideswiped by a car whose driver decided he had the power to create his own lane. Only a few moments later, a car pulled out of the Westwinds Apartments driveway and nearly missed a potentially bad accident. Complete madness.

I wouldn’t have gone to school today at all and just avoided the whole rain problem, but I had a midterm that prevented me from enjoying the calm, peaceful aspects of rain. Rain can be enjoyable, don’t get me wrong. There is nothing more comforting than the sound of rain against a window, which is the only explanation for the millions of dollars made off of “sounds of nature” audio. People only want nature when it’s convenient.

On campus, everyone is in the UCen, saying painfully obvious things like, “It’s raining,” and “Oh, I got wet.” Even better are the questions judging the limits of Santa Barbara rain: “So, do you think I need an umbrella?” Yes, jackass, you do. You need an umbrella because it does rain in Santa Barbara and it’s going to throw off your routine, but don’t fret – Spring Quarter will be here before you know it.

Ladan Moeenziai is a Daily Nexus assistant county editor.